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(Archive) Soothsayer's Row
"Barwoahl visited his favorite bar in the Esoteric Alley to request the aid of his longtime friend Maltus. Such a powerful psychic would be needed to protect their newly built ships from any dark influences from the deep when they made their first expedition to test the waters." -First account of Soothsayer's Row in A History of the Last City in the Whole Wide World. Economy Soothsayer's Row makes its money on esoteric services. Fortunetelling is the number one profession here. In a city that fears what lurks in the dark, there is no shortage of con artists that would prey on telling them that everything will be alright, for a price. This doesn't mean that everyone that practices their craft in the Psychic Borough is a liar and a cheat. In fact a slim majority of fortune tellers are genuine. Either accomplished psychic spell casters or merely individuals who know how to read palms, Soothsayer's Row has the highest number of psychically sensitive individuals per capita in the entire city. Most of the rest of Soothsayer's Row's economy derives from catering to Fiend's Reach's more... otherworldly residents. Extraplanar entities often travel here for services when they aren't called directly to the Temple District. Government Soothsayer's Row operates mostly independently of Fiend's Reach's normal laws. They of course abide by most of the basic laws of the city, although enforcement of the law differs some what. More often than not, heinous criminals seem to go missing, and a new ghostly guard has joined the service looking remarkably similar to the offender. The district itself is ruled by a council of ghosts. Some of these are prana ghosts, whereas others are of the normal undead variety. Their edicts are spread through some sort of unconscious understanding by the ghostly residents, as if compelled by a supernatural ban. Many mortal citizens have had the unfortunate experience of breaking a new law and only learning so from a ghost guard that can't seem to understand how the mortal could be ignorant. The esoteric means by which the Ghost Council decides on its members is not well understood. Some believe that mortals are groomed and cultivated to become members in the afterlife. Others believe that whatever secret syndicate runs the rest of the city sends its members to Soothsayer's Row after they pass on. Others still hold that the Ghost Council has not changed its members in its existence but rather its members are going through a dark twisted evolution that changes their identities from time to time. Geography Soothsayer's Row is located outside of the city proper in more ways than one. It lies outside of the city walls, and has its own set of walls protecting it. The reason for this is obvious when the moonlight doesn't strike the neighborhood. During the day, the new moon, or when a particularly magical cloud passes overhead, Soothsayer's Row doesn't exist on the material plane. Instead it is found in the moonless twilight of the ethereal plane. Many saltborn are quite distressed when they first see this phenomenon. Even long time residents of the Drowned Claw find this suspicious and avoid the district as much as possible. No one quite knows why the Psychic Borough fades in and out of existence, but they've come to accept it. During the day, the location on the material plane where the district would normally reside is a forest. Countless efforts to cut away at the trees and push the haunted wood back have been made. Every time though, when the district fades away at dawn the trees have returned and the lumber rotted. History Soothsayer's Row's history is shrouded in mystery and confusion. Earliest accounts of it date back to shortly after the building of the Harbor. These accounts treat the neighborhood as if it had been there the whole time though. Later accounts speak of an entirely new district that seemed to have formed overnight. Sadly enough, no amount of divination has managed to clear things up. Priests of the Master of Masters have asked their deity for answers, only to be told that such things are unwritten. Cultists of the Key and the Gate have asked their master and delight in the implications of the maddening whispers they receive. Inhabitants Nearly all residents of Soothsayer's Row are psychically inclined. Some are merely sensitive to the otherworldly, whereas others are the most powerful psychic spell casters in Fiend's Reach. Well, at least that's true of the mortal population. A large minority of citizens of the Esoteric Alley are some form of incorporeal entity. Ghosts, wraiths, spectres and the like call the place home. They do so more than just familiarity though. While within the walls of the district, the pull of the negative energy plane is weakened. Many ghosts go about their unlives without succumbing to the madness usually reserved for their kind. While they stay within the district they are almost flesh an blood, or rather, corpus and ectoplasm. As soon as they leave the district though, all of those years spent lucid catches up with them. The spiraling madness of a centuries old ghost that ventured beyond the walls goes without compare. Religion Many of the same deities worshiped in the city at large are practiced here as well. There are quite a few more followers of deities of ancestors, legend, memory, revelation, and thoughts. Strangely enough Pharasma is a very popular deity here (although few if any actual divine spell casters who worship her). Many residents of Soothsayer's Row that worship her view the district as a sort of eddy in the River of Souls. So it stands to reason that the undead that reside here are merely on their journey to the Boneyard, and not truly an abomination. Settlement Sheets N Metropolis Corruption +4; Crime +4; Economy +3; Law +2; Lore +4; Society +10 Qualities academic, adventure site, artists colony, no questions asked, phantasmal, only exists at night, under city Danger 30; Add the district's Economy modifier on all Craft checks, not just those made to earn a living. Soothsayer's Row exists on the material plane only during the night and only when the moon is out. During the day, and about once per month during the new moon, it instead resides on the Ethereal plane. Government Council (Spirit Council) Notable NPCs Marketplace Base Value N/A;Purchase Limit N/A; Spellcasting 6th (8th for planar magic and conjuration(summoning or teleportation) spells) Minor Items any below CL16th; Medium Items any below CL 16th; Major Items any below CL 16th Category:Archives